Believe In Me
by anotherweasley
Summary: Green's thoughts about Briscoe after the episode "Marathon" where Lennie's credibility is called into question.


Believe in Me  
By: Olivia  
  
"`Tis not the many oaths that make the truth,/But the plain single vow that is vowed true."-  
William Shakespeare--"All's Well That Ends Well"  
  
"The trust I have is in my innocence,/And therefore am I bold and resolute."-William  
Shakespeare- "Henry VI Part II"  
  
  
I'll admit, I had my doubts. Lennie had only been my partner for what, two, three months? And  
it seems like this case just brought all my doubts to the forefront.  
  
We knew exactly who had killed that lady on the street for her money. We knew exactly who he  
was and yet he kept eluding us.   
  
But that wasn't the only problem. Lennie started taking this case personally. He just seemed to  
be making mistake after mistake. I had to run past Lennie, who was out of breath on the steps, in  
order to try to catch the perp. But we lost him. Lennie hadn't thought about putting someone on  
the roof in case the perp tried to escape that way.  
  
Finally, we did catch up with the punk and arrested him. The interrogation didn't go well with  
the kid throwing the case in our faces due to our lack of evidence. The perp taunting Lennie  
about his age did not help matters any. The final nail in the coffin was that we had to let him go  
after all our work to catch him. We just couldn't hold him on the evidence we had. And Lt. Van  
Buren chewing our asses off was just more fuel to the fire. She was getting pressure from above  
and that in turn put even more pressure on us.  
  
Lennie and I were already putting pressure on ourselves and that spilled over into our feelings  
about one another. We started taking our anger out on each other. Things were said by both of  
us which would have been better left unsaid. Too much time spent together on this case that was  
going no where fast had made us reach our boiling points.  
  
I don't know Lennie very well personally. He's not the kind of person who talks a lot about  
himself. But I think this job means a lot to him and might in fact be his whole world. I don't  
know what he would do if he wasn't able to work here anymore. He's certainly never mentioned  
retirement to me, although I'm sure he could take it anytime he wanted.  
  
The thought of what he would do without this job was eating him inside. I thought I saw fear  
behind his eyes. It was fear that perhaps he had outgrown his usefulness on the force. He was  
asking himself if he was still able to do this job effectively. He was worried that he was too old.   
  
  
  
And how could I tell him differently when I had thought the same thing after first being assigned  
to be his partner. Seniority and experience are important things in homicide investigations but  
there are also the physical demands of detaining perps.  
  
It was this fear and worry that I saw turn into a great need to prove himself to us, to prove to the  
world, that he was still as good a detective as he ever was, maybe even better. He was  
determined to get this guy and close this case no matter what it took.  
  
And so when he told me that the punk had confessed as he was leading him away in handcuffs  
for the second time, I was stunned into disbelief. Lennie had been left alone with the perp for   
mere seconds and I, across the basketball court while detaining the gang members friends, had  
heard nothing. The perp, of course, denied that he had said anything of the sort and that there  
must be something wrong with Lennie's hearing. The perp seemed more credible due to our  
doubts about Lennie. I could tell even Lt. Van Buren had her doubts, and she has known Lennie  
many more years than I have.   
  
We tried gently to get him to admit that perhaps he was mistaken.. He was stubborn and angry  
at our disbelief. He stuck to his story that the kid had confessed to him. So there was nothing  
that any one could do but to stand behind Lennie even with our doubts. Lt. Van Buren told her  
superior about the confession which helped to hold the perp in jail.  
  
But the perp kept proclaiming that he never made a confession. So the judge assigned to the case  
decided to hear the motion and see if she would let the confession into the trial. McCoy even  
doubted Lennie, but having no hard evidence to prove otherwise, he had no choice but to offer  
Lennie's testimony in court. Only Carmichael seemed inclined to believe Lennie without  
question, but even though she's know him for about a year longer than I, she hadn't been on this  
case with us. She hadn't seen what the case had done to him.  
  
And so Lennie stood by his statement and testified to it in court. Lennie was just digging his  
hole deeper and deeper. If the truth ever got out, none of us would be able to help him after  
perjuring himself. In the end it did no good and was all for nothing. The judge ruled not to  
allow the "so-called" confession in. She admitted not liking to side with a defendant, but even  
she had her doubts.   
  
The next day, Van Buren called us into her office. I thought this was it for Lennie. Either  
Lennie was going to be reprimanded or I was going to be assigned a new partner. And despite  
this case, I felt sorry for Lennie and myself. I felt sorry that Lennie might go out of the force this  
way. I felt sorry for myself because, despite this case or maybe because of it, I was sorta getting  
use to Lennie and that old spice smell. We were starting to work cases well together and get our  
routine down. That was important to partners. I would be sorry to see our partnership end before  
it really took off.  
  
But none of those scenarios happened. Van Buren called us in to tell us that our perp had  
decided to plea bargain his crime in exchange for evidence leading to a serial rapist. Finally,  
there was hard evidence found by the DA's office connecting the murderer to his victim so he  
had decided to make a deal. As homicide detectives, Lennie and I were used to our perps getting  
off easy due to the dealings in the DA's office, but it never seemed to make it easier for us, or the  
victims families, to stomach. That's why we were pleasantly surprised to hear he'd be doing at  
least six years in jail. Sometimes the good guys really do win.  
  
But that wasn't all. Van Buren said that McCoy had also told her that the perp had admitted to  
making that smug confession to Lennie in order to taunt him. I know McCoy had known Lennie  
about as long as Van Buren had. He must have needed to know.  
  
Lennie was vindicated in all our eyes and yet I felt standing there, as I'm sure everyone else felt  
too, the shame of not trusting Lennie. We had let our own brother down and believed some low-  
life scum bag over him. I had let my feelings about him cloud my judgement. I thought he was  
trying to prove himself when he was just being a good, dedicated cop making sure that justice  
was done. Our anger at the perp and our frustration in trying to nail him, caused our  
communication to break down. But even at our worst, we still managed to catch the guy, and  
that said something.  
  
So we stood there, in Van Buren's office silent for a few moments before we started to leave.   
Lennie didn't say "I told you so" or anything remotely similar. He probably knew we already  
felt bad enough. Sometimes victory is bittersweet. But Lennie stated with conviction, in that  
wry sense of humor all his own, that he'd be doing this job from his wheel-chair. And you  
know, I don't doubt him.   
  



End file.
